David Lynch: Film vs. Television

Tim Walker (The Independent) asks David Lynch his opinions on television, film, art and his recent music projects

Lynch hasn’t directed a movie in almost a decade, and though there are occasional rumours of a script in the works, he seems doubtful that he’ll ever make a feature film again. In 2011, he told another interviewer, “I don’t know what’s happening to cinema. It hasn’t settled into what it’s going to be next.” Now, he says, it is settling – and he doesn’t like what he sees.”It’s a very depressing picture. With alternative cinema – any sort of cinema that isn’t mainstream – you’re fresh out of luck in terms of getting theatre space and having people come to see it. Even if I had a big idea, the world is different now. Unfortunately, my ideas are not what you’d call commercial, and money really drives the boat these days. So I don’t know what my future is. I don’t have a clue what I’m going to be able to do in the world of cinema.”

To many, Lynch’s masterpiece was Twin Peaks, and he has attempted to return to the small(ish) screen since: his much-admired 2001 movie Mulholland Drive was initially planned as a television pilot. Last year, he and his fourth wife, actress Emily Stofle, had a baby daughter, who currently keeps him from watching much television, but he admits to enjoying Mad Men and Breaking Bad. He doesn’t count out the prospect of making another show himself, and the economic models of AMC, HBO or Netflix might prove more amenable to his vision than the movie studios. “I like the idea of a continuing story,” he says. “And television is way more interesting than cinema now. It seems like the art-house has gone to cable.” [Read More]

It really is the Golden Age of television now. There are so many horrid movies that have come out lately that I wish HBO had done instead.

This isn’t the first time I’ve heard that Lynch may not make another feature film, which is depressing. However, I was glad to hear that things had worked out and he had signed back on to Showtime’s Twin Peaks.

TV is a fascinating and flexible medium, and it’s interesting to see how its growing popularity is changing the way we watch films. The movies that have made the most money in recent years all belong to multi-part franchises, which seems to emulate the success of recurring characters and plot-lines of series television…

I wonder whether Lynch is still spellbound by cinema in the way he used to be. When I read interviews and articles about him, it sometimes feels that he is going back to his roots (photography, painting, visual arts). And music also seems to have become a major focus of his output. If he wanted to make another movie, I would like to think he could find an investor somewhere…

About

Rhys Tranter is a writer based in Cardiff, Wales. He is the author of Beckett’s Late Stage (2018). His writing has been published in the Times Literary Supplement and the San Francisco Chronicle. In 2016, this website was selected to become part of the British Library’s permanent UK Web Archive. [Read More]

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